According to a recent report, there are at least 17 mysterious, phony cellphone towers in the United States that appear in every way to be ordinary towers, but have been set up to maliciously eavesdrop on conversations or texts or even push spyware onto a device.

The worst part is that no one knows who erected these towers or what information is being gathered.

“What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases,” Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America told Popular Science. “So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?

To be clear, these ‘towers’ are not necessarily the tall, physical spires we’re accustomed to seeing along highways or atop hills. These interceptors can be small, mobile installations that transport easily and can be purchased for as little as $100,000.

Earlier this week, we looked at the key gadgets you need to remember for your dorm room. Your computer, however, is so important when you’re away from home that it begs to have a whole list of accessories all for itself. And it’ll take you more than a mouse and a couple of cheap speakers to get you through the year. To be fully prepared for the school year ahead, you want to get these peripherals before you sit down to your first class:

External Hard Drive

(Image from Western Digital)If you want to watch all your favourite movies, have your massive collection of photos and all of your music, it’s probably time to get that external hard drive. With storage now in the terabytes, you’ll be able to store every file you ever use or download while at university, if you buy the right drive. Western Digital and Seagate are two of the most well-known hard drive companies, and both offer their products in a range of storage sizes and form factors. I’ve personally used a WD MyBook for years without a problem, and it works

The hacking ring, apparently based in a small city in south-central Russia, is said to have 1.2 billion stolen usernames and passwords, including access to 500 million email addresses.

The discovery was made by Hold Security, a Milwaukee, Wisc. firm specializing in Internet security and discovering significant hacks. According to Hold Security, the stolen information was gathered from over 420,000 websites. Hold Security would not name the victims. The Times has independently confirmed the findings.

Companies that rely on usernames and passwords have to develop a sense of urgency about changing this. Until they do, criminals will just keep stockpiling people’s credentials.

— Avivah Litan, a security analyst at the research firm Gartner

“Hackers did not just target U.S. companies, they targeted any website they could get, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to very small

Move over Flappy Bird, there's a new mobile game gaining fame online and not for its addictive gameplay.

'Bomb Gaza' was available for download on Android phones and tablets since July 29. As you'd imagine, it's already been pulled from the Google Play store.

The game is a re-imagining of the current Israel-Hamas conflict happening in Gaza where at least 1,800 Palestinians have been killed and 3,000 homes have been destroyed before a 72-hour truce that began Tuesday morning.

Played in the classic Super Mario-esque side-scroller 2D format, users take control of an airborne Israeli jet and drop missiles on Hamas soldiers sporting creepy smiles, bug eyes, and all-black attire while listening to Israeli theme music. Users earn points by hitting soldiers but lose them when they misfire and strike civilians dressed in white.

Developed by PlayFTW, the game was downloaded about 1,000 times before it was removed. Maturity settings were set on low, which allows play by gamers of all ages.

It's been almost a year since the July 6 train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Que., but the reminders for the people who live there are near-constant. As the cleanup of the disaster enters its second phase, some of Lac-Megantic's residents have discovered yet another reminder: An aerial view of the scorched earth in their town where the disaster occurred, displayed on Google Maps.

QMI Agency drew attention to the image this week, calling the image "disgusting," quoting a representative from Lac-Megantic's tourism community. Ghislain Bolduc, MNA for the Megantic riding, was also critical when talking to QMI, saying that the photo "reeked of sensationalism."

"The scene only looked like this for the two weeks following the accident," Bolduc said.

While it does serve as a painful reminder of what happened in the town, it's not unusual for Google to capture disaster-hit areas as a part of its Google Earth mapping program, documenting from satellites images of the Earth's surface.

Because of how "inoffensive" both the Jawbone UP24 and FitBit Flex looked, both were highly valued by the reviewers for appearance. Both are thinner and more subtle than the other three bands, with less of an in-you-face fitness band look, compared to the rest.

Of all the bands we take a look at in this series, the Polar Loop is probably the most under-the-radar of them all. Without the kind of hype machine and flash that you see with companies like Nike or Jawbone, Polar is a name that you're only likely to think of if you're seriously into fitness.

Polar Electro is a Finnish company that has been around since 1977, and has long made heart rate monitors and GPS watches for serious fitness enthusiasts. The Loop is Polar's foray into the fitness band market, a deviation from the traditional watch face-style trackers it usually makes.

Compared to its typical products, the Loop is decidedly more of a fitness and lifestyle band than anything else. But how does it stack up against other fitness bands we looked

For Jawbone, the fitness market isn’t a strange land. This is somewhere they have ventured before – only to have their efforts largely ridiculed, as their first attempt at a fitness band in 2011, the UP by Jawbone, was rife with damage issues. To Jawbone’s both fortune and folly, it came before the fitness band craze really caught on; the product didn’t catch on because it wasn’t something people were looking for yet, as mobile phones really needed to catch up to partner with wearable technology first. But it also meant they could test the waters, see what worked, and have a product ready for when suddenly, everyone was clamouring for a band.

Back when Jawbone’s first jump back into the ring launched, the Jawbone UP (which is still supported and

Apple is kicking off this year's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) today in San Francisco. Known for often being a chance to hear the latest announcements from Apple, everyone is once again abuzz waiting to find out what we'll be seeing at this year's keynote presentation. Will it be the iWatch? The iPhone 6? Follow along with our live blog, courtesy of CNET, to find out.

Nike has been synonymous with fitness for years, from its iconic shoes to a vast empire of sportswear and equipment. Unsurprisingly, Nike decided to expand into the wearable fitness tech market, and even got a boost from a partnership with Apple, long before the fitness band craze really took off.